Start Off With an Introductory

¶ … start off with an introductory section defining as to what is meant by cloning, background information on cloning, and its relevance to the field of business, timeline and history of cloning and the different types of cloning and how they work. Till the recent past, there was no significant ethical, social or legal debate about human cloning, but the emergence of Dolly revolutionized the entire environment. The U.S. Government has categorically stated that it is not going to spend the funds of tax payers towards research and performance of human cloning. Cloning will therefore become a private enterprise and it is expected to have a very high competition among the various companies. The lawmakers all over the country are struggling to find out the structure of laws on cloning both at the federal and state levels. Cloning also generates many ethical and scientific issues. The private companies have been indicated to exert regulation over what some are naming as the ultimate human frontier, the design and manufacture of human embryos, cells, tissues and organs. The consequence is that it is quite open for commercial use of embryos and research on stem cells. The Catholic Church and the supporters of the right-to-life dictum advocates that application of embryos to reap the stem cells would imply killing the life of human being and therefore the strategy is required to be stopped. The ethical issues are still prevalent in case of the infertile, gay and lesbian couples also who desire to have a baby with an intension of love and compassion. Cloning makes the couples unable to bear children finds it possible to have children of their own. However, the infertility treatment presently is successful only to the tune of 10% and cloning may result in multiple miscarriages in the birth mother. The couples may find themselves with nothing after expenditure of thousands of dollars except physical, financial and emotional sufferings. It is presently worth considering the future commercial trend of cloning the possibility of it emerging to be a big business. It is worth considering the future commercial trend of cloning the possibility of it emerging to be a big business. Also there is the necessity for a code of ethics for the companies involved in this area. To conclude, cloning is certainly an intensively responsive issue that required meticulous dealing.

Cloning

1. Introductory Section

Describe Cloning; Narrow action or practice of cloning; background information:

Prior to delving in to the complicacies of cloning and the way it is performed; a real dictionary meaning of cloning must be presented so as to avoid any sort of puzzlement that may arise later on. A clone is indicated to be a collection of the reproduced progeny without involving in the fusion of gametes of an individual along with the growth of an individual from a single somatic cell of its parent which is genetically similar to it. Simply it can be expressed as an 'asexually reproduced offspring who has the same genetic information as another organism or organisms'. (Cloning: Controversial Science) the organisms that are involved in cloning of themselves incorporate 'bacteria, most unicellular organisms, plants, algae, fungi along with many invertebrates'. (Cloning: Controversial Science)

Till the recent past, there was no significant ethical, social or legal debate about human cloning by means of nuclear transplantation, as the scientific accord about such an approach was considered as a biological impossibility. The emergence of Dolly revolutionized the entire environment. (Genetic Encores: The Ethics of Human Cloning) the publication of the astounding report by Ian Wilmut and his associates at the Roslin Institute in Scotland about the cloning of a lamb out of the cells of a mature sheep was considered significant since it was remembered to be the first effective effort in cloning a mature mammal, which generated an exact physical replica of the adult animal. Of course the advent of Dolly brought the consciousness that cloning humans from the tissues of adults is feasible to be accomplished any moment within a decade from now. The information about the emergence of Dolly therefore gave rise to a hot debate on the scientific, moral and ethical concerns around the prospects of human cloning. (Opposing Viewpoints Live Radio for Television: Overview and Background on Cloning) However, irrespective of the fact that the possibility of human cloning presently seems quite imminent the reality is that it is still is expected to take considerable amount of time for its extensive application. (Genetic Encores: The Ethics of Human Cloning)

Cloning and relevance to business:

The economic aspect more applicable to the concern of human cloning is associated with scarcity. Scarcity indicates the availability of limited resources for production purposes in comparison to the existing demand for the products and services. Since cloning involves application of a great deal of emerging technology and people are required to be highly skilled and education is required so as to adopt the procedure, there may not be a lot of companies to offer such service. Irrespective of the fact that a majority of the people is presently against cloning, it is presumed by the private companies that once cloning is begun to be performed safely and definitely and would be legal, there will be a great demand for it. The demand blended with the scarcity of the service is expected by the private companies to give rise to the cost escalation. Taking into consideration the present reproductive technologies, like in vitro fertilization, it is anticipated that the cost of clone will be about $250,000. (Economic Analysis)

The U.S. Government has categorically stated that it is not going to spend the funds of tax payers towards research and performance of human cloning. Cloning will therefore become a private enterprise and it is expected to have a very high competition among the various companies. These private companies would rival against each other to emerge successful with the technology so that they can brand it and generate the highest possible profit. Moreover, as the branding of new technology is associated with the requirement of a highly skilled people, only a few companies will attempt to thrive in the business relating to cloning. The few companies engaged in the performance of cloning will give rise to the competition. This however is expected to decline with the availability of more efficient and cheaper technology entailing scope to provide more service. (Economic Analysis)

Timeline and history of cloning:

The biologist John Gurdon of Oxford University declared during 1962 that he had applied the nucleus of completely varied intestinal cells of adults to clone the South African frogs. The outcome of the experiments of Gurdon created sensation among the scientific community, however some scientists continued to be cynical and started to find faults in his work. The British biologist J.B.S. Haldane in 1963 is praised to have coined the term 'clone' in a speech captioned 'Biological Possibilities for the Human Species of the Next Ten-Thousand Years'. Marshall Niremberg, Heirnich Mathaei, and Severo Ochoa was able to crack the genetic code in 1966 that paved the way for further analysis on genetic engineering studies and achievements starting in the late 1970s. The enzyme DNA legase was separated in 1967 that could go a long way in creation of the first recombinant DNA molecules in 1972. (History of Cloning)

James Shapiero of Harvard University along with Jonathan Beckwith claimed in 1969 to have isolated the first gene. Such accomplishment enhanced the concern of public on the increasing power of the biologists. Both Howard Temin and David Baltimore could isolate the first restriction enzyme during 1970 that gave rise to future maneuvering of DNA. Paul Berg of Stanford University generated the first recombinant DNA molecules by integrating the DNA of two different organisms in 1972. The first recombinant DNA organism was generated with the application of recombinant DNA techniques which was established a year earlier by Paul Berg. Karl Illmensee, the German-based developmental biologist along with Peter Hoppe at Jackson Laboratory in Maine, was able to produce mice by taking only one parent. During 1979, Karl Illmensee announced to have cloned three mice. Such announcements were just in the right time when the successive failures in cloning experimentations were convincing biologists about its near impossibility.

Kary B. Mullis devised the technique of polymerase chain reaction - PCR in 1983. With application of the technique, synthesis of above one billion copies became possible in a few matters of hours. Davor Solter, along with David McGrath tried to clone mice with application of his own version of the nuclear transfer method during 1983. The Danish scientist Steen Willadsen became successful in cloning a sheep from embryo cells during 1984. Steen Willadsen, could apply his cloning tools to generate the duplicate of the embryos of prize cattle in 1985. With application of differentiated, one-week-old embryo cells Steen Willadsen was able to clone a cow in 1986. In the same year, Neal First, Randal Prather, and Willard Eyestone, could clone a cow from early embryo cells. The National Institute of Health officially initiated the Human Genome Project in October of 1990 which was taken to be a huge international collaborative effort to detect the 50,000 to 100,000 genes and a sequence of the estimated 3 billion nucleotides constituting the whole human genome. Ian Wimut and Keith Campbell could effectively clone two sheeps named Megan and Morag in July 1995 from the differentiated embryo cells. (History of Cloning)

Dolly originated on July 5, 1996 as the first organism ever to be cloned from adult cells. Following the announcements for creation of Dolly by Ian Wilmut, an extensive debate on human cloning ethics emerged and that led President Clinton to propose for a five-year moratorium on federal as well as privately invested human cloning research on March 4, 1997. Richard Seed, a Havard graduate could announce on December 5, 1997 about his objective of cloning a human being prior to ban of the process by enactment of the federal laws. Following the successful cloning of Dolly, Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell generated Polly, after cloning of a Poll Dorset lamb from skill cells grown on a lab and with its alteration genetically to incorporate a human gene, in July 1997. Ryuzo Yanagimachi, Toni Perry, and Teruhiko Wakayama of the University of Hawaii claimed in July 1998 that they had cloned fifty mice from adult cells since October 1997. (History of Cloning)

The different types of cloning and how they work - an overview:

Only one case of cloning that is reproductive cloning was taken into consideration by the media while reporting on it. However, there existed several types of cloning and the technologies of cloning can effectively be applied for other purposes than simply generating genetic twin of another organism. The awareness of various kinds of cloning is considered fundamental to have an informed attitude on the present public policy concerns and to advance the best possible personal conclusions. Three kinds of cloning technology are generally debated such as Recombinant DNA technology or DNA cloning, Reproductive cloning and Therapeutic cloning. The Recombinant DNA technology or DNA cloning indicates the process where the transfer of a specific DNA fragment from one organism to a self-replicating genetic element like bacterial plasmid is generated. The specified DNA can then be conveniently proliferated in a foreign host cell. This technology is in operation ever since 1970s and it has become the common experience in molecular biology labs presently. (Cloning Fact Sheet)

The Reproductive Cloning is a tool applied to create an animal having similar nuclear DNA like that of another previously or presently existing animal. Dolly was generated with the application of reproductive cloning technology. The scientists attempt to transfer genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell to an egg where the nucleus and thus the genetic material is removed by means of a process known as 'somatic cell nuclear transfer'-SCNT. The reconstituted egg consisting of DNA from a donor cell is required to be treated with chemicals or electric current in order to stimulate cells division. The cloned embryo is transferred to the uterus of a female host once the cloned embryo attains an appropriate stage in its process of development and continues to grow until birth.

The Therapeutic cloning also known as the 'embryo cloning' is considered generation of the human embryos for its application in research. The objective of this process is not to generate the cloned human beings, but to harvest stem cells that can be applied to study human development and to treat disease. The stem cells are considered significant in the field of biomedical researchers since they are conveniently applied to produce any sort of specialized cells in the human body. Stem cells are extracted from the eggs after its division for 5 days. The egg at this stage of development is known as a blastocyst. The ethical concern arises out of the fact of destruction of the embryo in the extraction process. (Cloning Fact Sheet)

2. Legal Section

The lawmakers all over the country are struggling to find out the structure of laws on cloning both at the federal and state levels. Most of the law-makers perceive therapeutic cloning as infusing optimism among the millions of Americans with sufferings of debilitating diseases are they are to be encouraged and even funded by the government. According to some others cloning irrespective of its uses- reproductive or therapeutic is to be condemned in its entirety. (Cloning: what's stopping us? Law) Human cloning has been banned by state laws in seven states presently. These states are: California, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Rhode Island, and Virginia. However, the laws implemented differ widely in its scope with some banning only state funding of human cloning research and others banning the conduct of both research and therapeutic cloning. It is remarkable that California while banning reproductive cloning, simultaneously became the first state in enacting legislation backing the therapeutic stem cell research and other states are presently on a move to enact such legislations. Irrespective of the fact that such state legislations banning cloning have not yet been challenged legally, yet some legal authorities raised doubts on the justifiability of the governmental restrictions on human cloning from the point-of-view of the U.S. Constitution. (the Regulatory Environment for Human Cloning)

The federal government has not yet enacted laws banning the therapeutic or reproductive cloning, however, a general outline of legislative action in the controversial issue during the contemporary period is worth reviewing. (U.S. Federal Cloning Policy) the U.S. congress recently passed a federal bill in the House for prohibition of all sorts of cloning, however, the Senate has not voted on that. (Cloning: what's stopping us? Law) on December 3, 2001 the U.S. Senate condemned the strategy of imposing a 6-month moratorium on human embryo cloning. It has incorporated prohibitive measure against the attempt of cloning human embryo, violation of which would have entailed fine to the tune of $1 million and imprisonment up to 10 years. The prohibition also included the persons engaged in shipping or importing cloned embryos or products derived from them. The amendment made by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), was rejected 1-94 on a procedural vote that necessitates at least 60 votes to go through. George W. Bush on August 10, 2001 announced that the federal funds can be used only for research involving the 64 stem cell lines already in existence. (U.S. Federal Cloning Policy)

The United States House of Representatives voted to prohibit all sorts of human cloning and fixed the penalties of imprisonment up to 10 years and a fine of $1 million for attempting to clone humans on August 2001. The House hearing by the Subcommittee on Health and Sub-committee on Oversight and Investigations proposed the H.R. 1644, Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001, and H.R. 2172, Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001 during the summer of 2001. The Congressmen Weldon and Stupak proposed H.R. 1644 and the Congressmen Greenwood and Deutsch proposed H.R. 2172. H.R. 1644 sought to ban the generation of such cloned human embryos. The H.R. 2172 is proposed to prohibit cloning of human embryos from implanting them in a surrogate mother. The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 1998-105th Congress, 2nd Session: S. 1599, Human Cloning Prohibition Act. 105th Congress, 1st Session. H.R. 923, better known as the Bond-Frist bill in the Senate and the Ehlers bill in the House, prescribed banning of all cloning experiments that apply to human cells. (U.S. Federal Cloning Policy)

At the same time a bill generated in line with the one proposed by Senators Feinstein and Kennedy was expected to ban the implementation of an embryo developed by the technology into a human uterus with an objective of generating a child, but it would safeguard the research on Somatic cell nuclear transfer to clone molecules, cells and tissues. It is also aimed at preventing all state laws and simultaneously contains a 'sunset' clause that would terminate the prohibition in 10 years. These were prohibited by other legislations and were not given effect to. (U.S. Federal Cloning Policy)

3. Ethical Section

On the basis of the capability of predicting the result of an action the utilitarian ethical theory has been devised. The alternative that earns the greatest advantage to most people is the choice considered by the utilitarian to be ethically correct. One advantage of the ethical theory is that the utilitarian that compares equivalent predicted solutions and uses a point system to indicate the alternatives is more beneficial for more people. The point system entails a logical and justification argument for each of the decisions undertaken and permits a person to apply it on a case-by-case context. (Descriptions of Ethical Theories and Principles) Irrespective of the fact that genetic engineering and cloning seems to be a good idea for some, the subject generates many ethical and scientific issues. (the Cloning Controversy) the private companies have been indicated to exert regulation over what some are naming as the ultimate human frontier, the design and manufacture of human embryos, cells, tissues and organs. The consequence is that it is quite open for commercial use of embryos and research on stem cells. (Will Companies Hold Control of Life Made in a Petri Dish?) the embryonic stem-cell research entails us the way that would generate our perception of human life into a malleable, marketable natural resources- parallel to a cattle herd or copper mine -- "to be exploited for the benefit of the born and breathing. (Stem-Cell Senators: A true Faustian bargain)

The companies engaged in the experimentation of cloning are against the ethical bases, social principles and religious faiths etc. Now that cloning has the prospects of twisting rare experimental strategy -the generation of transgenic animals -into a profitable, industrial process, ethicists, geneticist, agriculturalists and animal welfare activists are vehemently under threat of the fact that the new technology will go a long way in inducing severe abuses of animal welfare. There existed no protection in the U.S. To deter a company from generating a large number of transgenic animals prior to ensuring that the foreign gene is not going to exert any sort of harm to the animals or its children. Besides it is ethically not granted to generate a child through transferring the nucleus of an adult tissue cell and lodging it into another woman's body. The ethics of the cloning gives rise to questions regarding the effective part played by cloning in the society; Clones are feared to be asexual variant of incest; this may give rise to human slaves or organ donor; difficult to determine their parents, their family and may be doubtful whether created with God's image or man's. (Cloning: (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/)

It has been disputed whether the companies involved in cloning may resort to misguided and malevolent attempts to choose certain trait, even to generate a particular types of children throwing our children to be the objects instead of prospective individuals. Companies are still ignorant as to which cell from the udder is effective and the reasons behind it, and also neither whether the serum starvation process still is effective with other species. Many of the scientists regard the attempt of cloning in humans at this stage is considered to be highly unethical. However, the doubt still arises whether the cloning will still creep into the society so that a human child will be born confidentially by some company on a fine morning. (Cloning: (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/)

The Catholic Church and the supporters of the right-to-life dictum advocates that application of embryos to reap the stem cells would imply killing the life of a human being and therefore the strategy is required to be stopped. (Will Companies Hold Control of Life Made in a Petri Dish?) They put forth that the common threat is the risk of cloning to the dignity and sanctity of human life and is not to be condemned lightly. (Cloning: (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/)the ethical issues are also prevalent in case of the infertile, gay and lesbian couples who desire to have a baby with an intension of love and compassion. Cloning makes the couples unable to bear children and make it possible for them to have children of their own. However, the infertility treatment presently is successful only to the tune of 10%. (Cloning for Medical Purposes) Cloning may result in multiple miscarriages in the birth mother. (it's too risky) the couples may find themselves with nothing after expenditure of thousands of dollars except physical, financial and emotional sufferings. (Cloning for Medical Purposes)

Besides, the high risk of genetic disorder may also result from cloning. Such disorders have profound influence upon the life of the clone, but are also feared to have infected the global gene pool. The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of American Medical Association finds that human cloning could retrievably vary the gene pool and aggravate the genetic problems that arise from deleterious genetic mutations, arising from harm to future generations. Additionally, the risks also involve the lives of unsuccessful clones. It has been estimated every successful animal cloning involves about 300 fetal deaths. Taking into consideration such trends the loss of life would be stupendous. The human cloning also enhances the concerns of whether cloned persons would really be regarded as 'human' or whether they merit the equal human rights. This led to rethink the multitude of violations which take place against humanity. The ethical values of our society have already been degenerated and the confusion arising from the survival of human clones would only supplement to our current moral dilemma. (the Cloning Controversy) From the utilitarian ethical principle, since the choice that yields the greatest benefit to the most people is the choice that is ethically correct, it could be argued that cloning is ethically incorrect as it has been shown to have less benefit to almost all sections of society.